Utah desert monolith

[aostling]

There is some impressive stainless steel here. I don't know its exact location -- but somebody does: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/24/u...k-country.html

Perhaps it's somewhere in The Maze (in Canyonlands N.P.). I have gazed down on that region from the vantage of Dead Horse Point State Park. If there, it is a wonder that it was ever found: https://www.nps.gov/cany/planyourvis...AZEmap-web.pdf

What's next, a clandestine Bridgeport to honor John Stevenson? Let your imagination run free.

[754]

It's been well visited . I find the story fascinating.
I wonder how, in as long as possibly 4 years..... it must have been spotted before.
I think its like around a 1000 bux or more of material ( 6 x12 ft piece of SS )they put there , and very well done.

[darryl]

It could be a decoy to prevent people from exploring further. Isn't Utah where they either bury a lot of nuclear waste, or where they have the huge bomb shelter for the elite-

[wierdscience]

FFS! So that's where Fedex freight lost my stainless plate last year.

[Fasttrack]

It could be a decoy to prevent people from exploring further. Isn't Utah where they either bury a lot of nuclear waste, or where they have the huge bomb shelter for the elite-

Perhaps you're thinking of Dugway Proving Grounds?

[J Tiers]

I thought that one was the chemical weapons range. Something about bombing sheep I seem to recall from the 1970s or so.

[Fasttrack]

I thought that one was the chemical weapons range. Something about bombing sheep I seem to recall from the 1970s or so.

A leaky shutoff valve on a tank of VX gas. Dugway does a lot but their main mission is definitely chem/bio defense. I've spent many hours on various DPG test ranges waiting for weather conditions to allow releases. During WWII that area was used for practice bombing missions. There were three fake villages set up, mimicking the architecture of (1) a small German village, (2) a small Japanese village, and (3) a small English village. Guess the bombers were right on target because English Village is still there and provides housing for all us civies who go out there. The other two are largely abandoned. None of the Japanese buildings were left but the shells of the brick German buildings are still there.

I usually think of Nevada (probably because of NNSS and the Yucca Mountain fiasco) as being the state for radioactive waste disposal but I guess there is that commercial site in Utah. Can't remember its name, though.

[aostling]

There is now a Wiki article on this, which posts the coordinates. Here is a screen shoot from Google Earth Pro.

[reggie_obe]

One of many videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCmgHEMNqLc

[Ian B]

Nice monolith, but aren't the proportions wrong?

Ian

[reggie_obe]

Nice monolith, but aren't the proportions wrong?

Ian

Wasn't the one from 2001 stone? I thought it was rectangular.
Just an attention grabbing prank and the pranksters will come forward at some point for their moment of fame.

[old mart]

Strange thing, it is visible in the GE image from 10-20-2016, but not the earlier 8-20-2015. The earlier image shows a lot of debris around the site, but the later image shows only the object with just a smooth area around it. The angle of the sun is steeper in the earlier image of course, but it remains a mystery. I wonder whether the object is sitting on/in soil, or rock?

I would not refer to the object as a monolith, as the word means solitary stone.

[mattthemuppet]

there's quite a tradition of wilderness art, especially in the wilderness west, and this is an excellent example of that. I think it's pretty awesome and a considerable amount of work to install it.

I also liked the Official Statement from the Bureau of Land Management: “Although we can’t comment on active investigations, the Bureau of Land Management would like to remind public land visitors that using, occupying, or developing the public lands or their resources without a required authorization is illegal, no matter what planet you are from.”

[reggie_obe]

FWIW, no shortage of YouToob videos from the adventuresome.
A Snopes report: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/monolith-found-utah/

[Ian B]

Not sure what the one in 2001 was made from. From the name monolith, you would expect it to be stone. In the book, diamond drills wouldn't touch it, so any guess is fine; some alien substance no doubt. For this one, "Monometallum" just doesn't sound right...

The dimensions (or at least, their ratio) was 1 x 4 x 9, which is 1 squared by 2 squared by 3 squared.

Ian